A new league table ranking the health of children’s food in 21 of the UK’s most popular restaurant chains has been published by the Soil Association’s Out to Lunch campaign. Two years since the first league table, there have been some significant improvements made by a small number of chains, but the Soil Association, working with an army of parent secret diners, has uncovered continuing widespread poor practice with many restaurants failing to serve fresh food or healthy choices.
- The campaign found restaurants serving potatoes pre-mashed in Holland, fish fingers pre-cooked in Poland, chicken from Thailand and Brazil, cheese from Australia and New Zealand, and a chicken product with 19 additional ingredients produced variously in Kazakhstan, Russia, Vietnam, Argentina, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Ukraine and Slovakia.
- Over half the restaurants give no indication of where their food comes from, and only one chain (Jamie’s Italian) could reliably tell parents where their meat comes from.
- 3 chains still offer children free or discounted refills of high calorie sugary drinks as standard (Café Rouge, Frankie & Benny’s, Pizza Hut). Just two fizzy drinks will see a child stack up 17.5 sugar cubes.
- Size of chain does not determine position in the league table. Jamie’s Italian (the smallest chain) and Wetherspoons (the second largest chain) are both in the top 5. Strada (the second smallest chain) and KFC (the third largest chain) are both in the bottom 5.
Revolution in kids’ food on the high street is underway
Despite much continuing bad practice, it is clear that a revolution in kids’ food on the high street is underway. The league table reveals significant positive changes – 10 chains are serving a portion of veg or salad with every meal (up from 6 chains in 2013) and 9 chains include information on where ingredients come from on the menu (up from 5).
Since launching the campaign in 2013, the Soil Association has been working with participating restaurants to improve children’s menus and as a result of the Out to Lunch campaign, over 5.5 million meals served to children this year include healthier options. The biggest contributors to these positive changes are larger chains, like Harvester and Prezzo, and also giraffe.
Big role for restaurants
Restaurants have a big role to play in influencing what children think good food looks like – going out used to be seen as a treat, but researchshows it’s more common now with 40% of parents eating out with their kids at least once a fortnight. Meanwhile, 66% of parents say they don’t think kids’ food in restaurants is good enough.
Price no guarantee of quality
Rob Percival from the Soil Association said:
“Our 2015 league table includes big winners and big losers – adults expect to be offered real food and real choices in restaurants and we think children deserve the same. We’ve found some up-market eateries are designing menus that make healthy eating for children almost impossible, and price is no guarantee of quality – lower cost restaurants are outperforming more expensive chains. Since our first league table Harvester and Prezzo have proved it’s possible to make major improvements – we’re now calling on other restaurants to raise the bar and give our kids the food they deserve.”
Jamie’s Italian topped the table with a great score of 64 out of 80 (up from 50 two years ago), and Prezzo was the biggest climber, moving an impressive 13 places to 6th position. Since 2013 the chain has introduced fresh fruit and an organic fruit lolly for desert, and has prioritised children and family enjoyment with an activity pack that includes activities related to fruit, veg, and healthy eating.
Christian Poole of Prezzo commented:
“At Prezzo we’re committed to offering great experiences to children and families. Working alongside the Out to lunch campaign, we’re proud to deliver a greatly improved children’s menu and are really pleased to be the highest climber in this year’s league table. Our new menu includes fresh fruit and organic fruit lollies for pudding, and we provide fun activities based around healthy eating. We have big ambitions for our children’s menu, and will continue to innovate to provide tasty, healthy and fresh food for little ones.”
The Soil Association has a new Eating Out Guide for families to help them select which restaurants are best to visit depending on what’s important to them.
Download the Guide here